AN Address from Britannia to the celebrated Angelica, printed in the Public Advertiser on January 20, 1767, acclaimed a 20-something Swiss-born painter, who would shortly sign the petition to George III that precipitated the foundation of the Royal Academy (RA). ‘What wonderful effects from light and shade!’ rhapsodised the poetaster: ‘Such colouring was ne’er since Rubens shown.’
The artist in question, known to her British admirers as ‘Miss Angel’ and to art scholars as Angelica Kauffman, was a young woman acknowledged in her lifetime as a leading portraitist and history painter. In Britain, her champions included Joshua Reynolds and Robert Adam, for whom she contributed to decorative schemes at Harewood House, West Yorkshire, Osterley Park in Middlesex and the Adelphi in London. Within months of her arrival in
